If you’re really good, these levels are designed intelligently enough to allow you to sneak around arresting bad guys one by one until, finally, when you look around, all you see are handcuffed, knocked-out criminals. It’s not the kind of satisfaction I expected from a Battlefield game, but it requires patience and skill, and I was constantly delighted to see my enemies’ numbers dwindle while my magazines stayed full.
Again, you can also run around shooting everyone, and that works too. Part of Battlefield’s legacy includes realistic weapons that feel and sound great, and that’s no different here. When I forgot to disable an alarm and 10 enemies surrounded me, my rifle was a lot more effective than handcuffs.
Launch Trailer
Launch Trailer
02:18
Second, Hardline’s seven-hour campaign is – and I never thought I’d say this – just as fun to play in stealth as it is running in guns blazing. Before entering combat, you can scan an area and tag enemies, explosives, or alarm systems so they’ll appear on your radar. It’s rewarding to formulate a grand plan from afar before jumping into the action.
With proper preparation, enemies’ cones of vision appear directly on your minimap, Metal Gear Solid-style. If you can avoid detection, it’s entirely possible to make it through most areas without firing a single lethal round.
My biggest gameplay gripe is that the unlock system doesn’t appropriately award your playstyle. The best way to boost your level, which dictates the weapons and gadgets at your disposal, is to play stealthily. Strangely, mastering stealth mostly unlocks tons of big, noisy guns that made me want to shoot the place up. Likewise, if you want to shoot stuff all the time, you’re not going to get your hands on new guns as quickly as the stealth player who doesn’t need them. And there are very few unlocks that make stealth more interesting.